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Phase separation underlies the organization of the nucleus, including the biogenesis of nucleoli and the packaging of heterochromatin. Here we explore the regulation of transcription factor condensates involved in gene repression by ERK signaling in gastrulating embryos of a simple proto-vertebrate (Ciona). ERK signaling induces nuclear export of the transcriptional repressor ERF, which has been linked to various human developmental disorders. Using high resolution imaging we show that ERF is localized within discrete nuclear condensates that dissolve upon ERK activation. Interestingly, we observe dynamic pulses of assembly and dissociation during the cell cycle, providing the first visualization of a nuclear phase separation process that is regulated by cell signaling. We discuss the implications of these observations for producing sharp on/off switches in gene activity and suppressing noise in cell-cell signaling events.

Species-specific traits are thought to have been acquired by natural selection. Transcription factors play central roles in the evolution of species-specific traits. Hox genes encode a set of conserved transcription factors essential for establishing the anterior-posterior body axis of animals. Changes in the expression or function of Hox genes can lead to the diversification of animal-body plans. The tunicate ascidian Ciona intestinalis Type A has an orange-colored structure at the sperm duct terminus. This orange-pigmented organ (OPO) is the characteristic that can distinguish this ascidian from other closely related species. The OPO is formed by the accumulation of orange-pigmented cells (OPCs) that are present throughout the adult body. We show that Hox13 is essential for formation of the OPO. Hox13 is expressed in the epithelium of the sperm duct and neurons surrounding the terminal openings for sperm ejection, while OPCs themselves do not express this gene. OPCs are mobile cells that can move through the body vasculature by pseudopodia, suggesting that the OPO is formed by the accumulation of OPCs guided by Hox13-positive cells. Another ascidian species, Ciona savignyi, does not have an OPO. Like Hox13 of C. intestinalis, Hox13 of C. savignyi is expressed at the terminus of its sperm duct; however, its expression domain is limited to the circular area around the openings. The genetic changes responsible for the acquisition or loss of OPO are likely to occur in the expression pattern of Hox13.

Metamorphosis, a widespread life history strategy in metazoans, allows dispersal and use of different ecological niches through a dramatic body change from a larval stage [1, 2]. Despite its conservation and importance, the molecular mechanisms underlying its initiation and progression have been characterized in only a few animal models. In this study, through pharmacological and gene functional analyses, we identified neurotransmitters responsible for metamorphosis of the ascidian Ciona. Ciona metamorphosis converts swimming tadpole larvae into vase-like, sessile adults. Here, we show that the neurotransmitter GABA is a key regulator of metamorphosis. We found that gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is a downstream neuropeptide of GABA. Although GABA is generally thought of as an inhibitory neurotransmitter, we found that it positively regulates secretion of GnRH through the metabotropic GABA receptor during Ciona metamorphosis. GnRH is necessary for reproductive maturation in vertebrates, and GABA is an important excitatory regulator of GnRH in the hypothalamus during puberty [3, 4]. Our findings reveal another role of the GABA-GnRH axis in the regulation of post-embryonic development in chordates.

The ascidian Ciona intestinalis is an important model animal for studying developmental mechanisms for constructing the chordate body. Although molecular and embryological techniques for manipulating Ciona genes were developed a long time ago, recent achievements of genome editing in this animal have innovated functional analyses of genes in Ciona. Particularly, knockout of genes in the G0 generation coupled with tissue-specific expression of TALENs enables us to rapidly address gene functions that were difficult using previous methods.

The pharynx, possessing gill slits and the endostyle, is a characteristic of chordates that is a complex of multiple tissues well organized along the anterior-posterior (AP) axis. Although Hox genes show AP coordinated expression in the pharyngeal endoderm, tissue specific roles of these factors for establishing the regional identities within this tissue is largely unknown. Here, we show that Hox1 is essential for the establishment of AP axial identity of the endostyle, a major structure of the pharyngeal endoderm, in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis. We found that Hox1 knockout causes posterior to anterior transformation of the endostyle identity, and Hox1 represses Otx expression and anterior identity, and vice versa. Furthermore, alteration of the regional identity of the endostyle disrupts the formation of body wall muscles, suggesting that the endodermal axial identity is essential for the coordinated pharyngeal development. Our results reveal an essential role of Hox genes for establishment of the AP regional identity in the pharyngeal endoderm and crosstalk between endoderm and mesoderm for the development of chordate pharynx.

Custom designed nucleases can simplify gene targeting experiments and have the potential to allow these techniques to be performed in a wide range of organisms. Transcriptional activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) are starting to fulfill this potential with the advantages of low cost and fast construction times. Here, we report that TALENs are highly effective at inducing mutations in specific genomic loci in the ascidian chordate Ciona intestinalis. In Ciona there are well-established methods to introduce exogenous DNA by electroporation, and we show that this method can be used to introduce constructs that can express TALENs ubiquitously or in specific tissues. Our current protocols enable the rapid analysis of hundreds of TALEN-induced mutants. TALEN electroporations result in a high rate of mutations. These mutations can result in gene knockouts that recapitulate previously described functions of Fgf3 and Hox12. We show that TALENs can work efficiently to cause tissue-specific knockouts and demonstrate this by knocking out Hox12 in the epidermis and Fgf3 in neural tissues. We also use tissue-specific knockouts to reveal a new function of Fgf3 during ascidian larval metamorphosis.

The ascidian Ciona intestinalis has a high regeneration capacity that enables the regeneration of artificially removed primordial germ cells (PGCs) from somatic cells. We utilized PGC regeneration to establish efficient methods of germ line mutagenesis with transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs). When PGCs were artificially removed from animals in which a TALEN pair was expressed, somatic cells harboring mutations in the target gene were converted into germ cells, this germ cell population exhibited higher mutation rates than animals not subjected to PGC removal. PGC regeneration enables us to use TALEN expression vectors of specific somatic tissues for germ cell mutagenesis. Unexpectedly, cis elements for epidermis, neural tissue and muscle could be used for germ cell mutagenesis, indicating there are multiple sources of regenerated PGCs, suggesting a flexibility of differentiated Ciona somatic cells to regain totipotency. Sperm and eggs of a single hermaphroditic, PGC regenerated animal typically have different mutations, suggesting they arise from different cells. PGCs can be generated from somatic cells even though the maternal PGCs are not removed, suggesting that the PGC regeneration is not solely an artificial event but could have an endogenous function in Ciona. This study provides a technical innovation in the genome-editing methods, including easy establishment of mutant lines. Moreover, this study suggests cellular mechanisms and the potential evolutionary significance of PGC regeneration in Ciona.

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is a neuropeptide that has an essential role in the neural regulation of vertebrate reproduction. Over the past two decades there has been increasing evidence strongly indicating that members of the GnRH superfamily, which includes GnRH, adipokinetic hormone (AKH), corazonin (Crz) and adipokinetic hormone/corazonin-related peptides (ACP), are almost ubiquitous amongst bilateral animals. Moreover GnRH possibly has origins in even more ancient, non-bilateral ancestors. Current knowledge about molluscan GnRH has been accumulated regarding immunological identification, physiological function and sequence analysis. In the present review we summarized a current status of molluscan GnRH research and focus on its role in the reproduction of the molluscs. In cephalopods and gastropods the presence of a GnRH-like peptide was detected with heterologous antibodies and the identified GnRH was suggested to be involved with behavior and reproduction. Reproductive roles for GnRH have been confirmed in both bivalve and cephalopod molluscs. These findings will provide useful insights into the evolution of reproductive endocrinology.

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is central to the control of vertebrate reproductive cycles and since GnRH orthologs are also present in invertebrates, it is likely that the common ancestor of bilateral animals possessed a GnRH-like peptide. In order to understand the evolutionary and comparative biology of GnRH peptides we cloned the cDNA transcripts of prepro GnRH-like peptides from two species of bivalve molluscs, the Yesso scallop Patinopecten yessoensis and the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. We compared their deduced uncleaved and mature amino acid sequences with those from other invertebrates and vertebrates, and determined their sites of expression and biological activity. The two molluscan GnRH sequences increased the number of known protostome GnRHs to six different forms, indicating the current classification of protostome GnRHs requires further revision. In both molluscs, RT-PCR analysis showed that the genes were highly expressed in nervous tissue with lower levels present in peripheral tissues including the gonads, while immunocytochemistry, using anti-octopus GnRH-like peptide, demonstrated the presence of GnRH-like peptide in neural tissue. Putative scallop GnRH-like peptide stimulated spermatogonial cell division in cultured scallop testis, but the scallop GnRH-like peptide did not stimulate LH release from cultured quail pituitary cells. This is the first report of the cloning of bivalve GnRH-like peptide genes and of molluscan GnRH-like peptides that are biologically active in molluscs, but not in a vertebrate.

Summary Most animal embryos display a delay in the activation of zygotic transcription during early embryogenesis [1]. This process is thought to help coordinate rapid increases in cell number during early development [2]. The timing of zygotic genome activation (ZGA) during the maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) remains uncertain despite extensive efforts. We explore ZGA in the simple protovertebrate, Ciona intestinalis . Single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) assays identified Cyclin B3 ( Ccnb3 ) as a putative mediator of ZGA. Maternal Ccnb3 transcripts rapidly diminish in abundance during the onset of zygotic transcription at the 8-cell and 16-cell stages. Disruption of Ccnb3 activity results in precocious activation of zygotic transcription, while overexpression abolishes normal activation. These observations suggest that the depletion of maternal Cyclin B3 products is a critical component of the MZT and ZGA. We discuss evidence that this mechanism might play a conserved role in the MZT of other metazoans, including mice and humans.

Vertebrate-like sex steroid hormones have been widely detected in mollusks, and numerous experiments have shown the importance of steroids in gonad development. Nevertheless, their signaling pathways in invertebrates have not been uncovered yet. Steroid receptors are an ancient class of transcription factors with multiple roles in not only vertebrates but also invertebrates. Estrogen signaling is thought to have major roles in mollusk physiology, but the full repertoire of estrogen receptors is unknown. We presented the successful cloning of two novel forms of estrogen receptor-like genes. These receptors are present in two closely related species of Mytilus: Mytilus edulis and Mytilus galloprovincialis, commonly known and widely distributed sentinel species. Our phylogenetic analysis revealed that one of these receptors is an estrogen receptor (ER) and the other one is an estrogen-related receptor (ERR). Studies of expression analysis showed that both receptor mRNAs were localized in the oocytes and follicle cells in contact with developing oocytes in the ovary and Sertoli cells in the testis, and in the ciliated cells of the gill. In addition, we have evidence that one (ER) of these may have a capacity to autoregulate its own expression in the gonadal cells by estrogen (E2) and that this gene is responsive to estrogenic compounds.

The horizontal transfer of genes between distantly related organisms is undoubtedly a major factor in the evolution of novel traits. Because genes are functionless without expression, horizontally transferred genes must acquire appropriate transcriptional regulations in their recipient organisms, although the evolutionary mechanism is not known well. The defining characteristic of tunicates is the presence of a cellulose containing tunic covering the adult and larval body surface. Cellulose synthase was acquired by horizontal gene transfer from Actinobacteria. We found that acquisition of the binding site of AP-2 transcription factor was essential for tunicate cellulose synthase to gain epidermal-specific expression. Actinobacteria have very GC-rich genomes, regions of which are capable of inducing specific expression in the tunicate epidermis as the AP-2 binds to a GC-rich region. Therefore, the actinobacterial cellulose synthase could have been potentiated to evolve its new function in the ancestor of tunicates with a higher probability than the evolution depending solely on a spontaneous event.

Targeted mutagenesis of genes-of-interest, or gene-knockout, is a powerful method to address the functions of genes. Engineered nucleases have enabled this approach in various organisms because of their ease of use. The ascidian Ciona intestinalis is an excellent organism to analyze gene functions by means of genetic technologies. In our previous study, we reported mutagenesis of Ciona somatic cells with TALE nucleases (TALENs) by electroporating expression constructs. In this study, we report germ cell mutagenesis of Ciona by microinjecting mRNAs encoding TALENs. TALEN mRNAs introduced mutations to target genes in both somatic and germ cells. TALEN-mediated mutations in the germ cell genome were inherited by the next generation. We conclude that knockout lines of Ciona that have disrupted target genes can be established through TALEN-mediated germ cell mutagenesis.